Royal Challengers Bangalore's Zaheer Khan is eager to "reclaim" his place in the Indian team and said he will look to use the period after IPl to attain peak fitness.
Having returned to the RCB playing XI after a long injury layoff, Zaheer, who was dropped after the third Test against England last December, said he was "itching" to get back on the field.
"Post-IPl I have to put in some serious work into my fitness and form to reclaim my place in the Indian team. That's what's on my mind right now — I want to use that period after the IPl to get stronger, fitter and improve in all the areas," Zaheer was quoted as saying by IPl website.
In only his second game of the tournament, Zaheer picked up four wickets in two overs against Chennai Super Kings to keep RCB's playoffs chances alive.
"I was itching to get back on the field but I always take my time to come back whenever I am injured. This time too, I could have played a couple of matches earlier but it's always good to be a game late than coming back too early. That was the thinking between the trainer, physio and me.
"I'm definitely feeling much better but I know I've still got a long way to go."
Zaheer said skipper Virat Kohli is ledaing RCB from the front. "He's leading from the front. It shows in his batting that he wants to be responsible for the team's success. I think captaincy is helping him mature fairly quickly. I believe this captaincy stint at IPl will help him improve his game as well."
He also spoke highly of promising left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat. "It's really good to see young Unadkat do so well. He's a promising young talent and with time he's definitely going to get better. He had a taste of the highest level very early in his career (Unadkat made his Test debut in 2010 as a 19-year-old) and now he's hungry to get back there, which is good."
Jenningspins hope on Zaheer in play-offs
Bangalore: Impressed with a fit-again Zaheer Khan's magnificent bowling show against Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore coach Ray Jennings is hopeful that the veteran pacer will play a key role in the play-offs if the team sneaks into the next round.
"The tough thing for me was to try get Zak match fit. Hopefully he hasn't started off too late and he is going to help us in semi-finals and finals," said Jennings after a 24-run win over Chennai Super Kings in which Zaheer took four wickets in two overs last night.
"We all know that when he is match fit he has amazing ability to handle the heat and the pressure in key moments. He even surprised me of his catch at the end. He was fired up," he told reporters here.
Jennings said he would have liked to be in a situation where his team could control the points table even as it waits for favourable results elsewhere to qualify for the play-offs.
"From my side I was interested in how we played the game (against CSK). The guys were keen even if it was raining. They were very connected to the game. They played good cricket. That is why we are here to entertain the crowd," he said.
Jennings said the spell of Zaheer Khan and Ravi Rampaul pushed Chennai on the backfoot which made chasing a difficult proposition for the visiting batsmen.
"The most important thing in games going down to eight overs (is that) you got to be on the batting from ball one or else you will be (left) behind. We did exactly that," Jennings said.
Meanwhile, CSK Coach Stephen Fleming said his team is not going to think too much about yesterday's loss against RCB in a shortened game and focus on play-offs to be played in Mumbai and Delhi.
"We have got a very patterned style of play based on 20 overs when that changes, we are little bit at sea. Probably it was ideal for them (RCB)," he added.